WDNR estimates deer population at 990,100
Hunters have raised issues with countBy Paul A. Smith of the Journal Sentinel
Wisconsin has 990,100 deer after the 2009 hunting seasons, according to an estimate released last week by the Department of Natural Resources.
The number is about 1% lower than the same time last year. But it's still 26% higher than the state's overwinter deer population goal.
"Things haven't changed a whole lot in the last year," said Keith Warnke, DNR big game ecologist. "We've got units above goal and some below. Like last year, we'll be working to increase deer numbers in units that are well below goal."
The DNR uses a combination of models to derive the deer population estimate. In much of the state, it uses the Sex-Age-Kill model, which relies on data taken from harvested deer.
An accounting-style estimate called Pop 2 is used in units with Earn-A-Buck regulations. And in the Chronic Wasting Disease management zone, counts are performed from aircraft, said Warnke.
Hunters registered 329,103 deer in the 2009 Wisconsin hunting seasons, including 191,715 antlerless deer and 134,156 bucks. The 2009 harvest was 27% lower overall; the buck harvest fell 3%.
The DNR's annual deer population estimate has long been a source of controversy.
On the heels of the 2009 gun deer hunt, in which many hunters expressed dissatisfaction at seeing few or no deer, the post-hunt estimate of nearly 1 million deer has started to generate a new wave of disbelief.
"Certainly there are deer in the state, and places with decent to good populations, but the experience of many, many hunters is quite different than the estimates in individual units would indicate," said Ed Harvey, chairman of the Wisconsin Conservation Congress.
Eighteen units, virtually all in the north and northeast of the state, are more than 20% below goal and will have "zero quota" on antlerless permits for 2010, said Warnke. Thirteen units had such regulations in 2009.
With support from the Wisconsin Bowhunters Association, the DNR will propose a new regulation for 2010 that will prohibit archery hunters from shooting antlerless deer in "zero quota" units.
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